a whetstone around their necks.]

"The wisdom of Linacre's plan," wrote Dr. Friend, "speaks for itself.
His scheme, without doubt, was not only to create a good understanding
and unanimity among his own profession (which of itself was an
excellent thought), but to make them more useful to the public. And he
imagined that by separating them from the vulgar empirics and setting
them upon such a reputable foot of distinction, there would always
arise a spirit of emulation among men liberally educated, which would
animate them in pursuing their inquiries into the nature of diseases
and the methods of cure for the benefit of mankind; and perhaps no
founder ever had the good fortune to have his designs succeed more to
his wish."

His plans with regard to the teaching of medicine at the two great
English Universities did not succeed so well, but that was the fault
not of Linacre nor of the directions left in his will, but {102} of
the times, which were awry for educational matters. Notwithstanding
Linacre's bequest of funds for two professorships at Oxford and one at
Cambridge, it is typical of the times that the chairs were not founded
for many years. During Henry VIII's time, the great effort of
government was not to encourage new foundations but to break up old
ones, in order to obtain money for the royal treasury, so that
educational institutions of all kinds suffered eclipse. The first
formal action with regard to the Linacre bequest was taken in the
third year of Edward VI. Two lectureships were established in Merton
College, Oxford, and one in St. John's College, Cambridge. Linacre's
idea had been that these foundations should be University
lectureships, but Anthony Wood says that the University had lost in
prestige so much during Henry VIII's time that it was considered
preferable to attach the lectureships to Merton College, which had
considerable reputation because of its medical school. During
Elizabeth's time these Linacre lectureships sank to be sinecures and
for nearly a hundred years served but for the support of a fellowship.
The Oxford foundation was revived in 1856 by the University
Commissioners, and the present splendid foundation of the lectures in
physiology bears Linacre's name in honor of his original grant.

At the age of about fifty Linacre was ordained priest. His idea in
becoming a clergyman, as confessed in letters to his friends, was
partly in {103} order to obtain leisure for his favorite stu